Special Chapter XVI - Up The Rabbit Hole (part 1)

This is bad.

This is really… really bad.

I immediately hid my presence and pressure as much as I could. Doing that was quite easy, but what I will do later is something incredibly difficult.

The trio… they know we're here.

BARR!!!

The earth above me somehow shook. The lights on the crystal fades as the ground shakes. Judging from how the pressure is no longer far away, it is simply proven that they are already inside the cave.

Damn... They are already here. I immediately ran on the path, towards the smaller cave where everyone is at.

By the time I arrived, I knew I was too late, so I hid myself behind a rock near the entrance. From behind the rock, I took a peek and studied the situation.

A very tall and muscular bald guy is standing on top of the mountain of rocks. I assumed that guy just punched through the ceiling, otherwise he wouldn't be standing there.

Bloody hell... This guy punched his way in?

If it's just one person, I can probably take on him by myself. But afterwards, two more of his friends came down. One is a female with long hair, and the other is a blonde boy that doesn't look too tall.

The trio of destruction. Prym the blonde, Elbrado the muscular, and the witch Merida.

I gave one last glare at Merida, because something about her just intrigues me. Wow, she is actually hot.

They talked about various things a lot, and I can tell from the start that Prym and the others never had any intention to be peaceful. They did play around with my group a lot, which simply shows that they aren't being too offensive.

I can stay calm for now… I need to find a proper timing for attacking. I can't fight them all at once, so I have to find a way to limit them.

I can see Prym throwing a larger item at the captain's foot. I couldn't properly see what item it was, but somehow, everyone looked horrified by it.

The captain, especially, looked quite enraged. It didn't take long for his entire body to be covered by a red aura, a color which I very much recognize.

That's the magic energy of rage... 

I had it once. No, multiple times actually, since my emotions are always 'stable'.

The captain is very angry by whatever Prym throws at him. I got quite confused, and I enchanted my eyes so I could see further at the item that was thrown next to his foot. 

... It's a head.

That's… fucked up.

That must be one of the captain's subordinates. The knights that Eva said to have gone missing.

Prym and the bald guy, Elbrado, talked for a little bit before the big guy leaped towards the captain. He landed just a meter in front of the captain, and the two stared at each other sharply.

I quickly hid my head immediately just in case Elbrado could see me, since he was facing the entrance.

Oh god… please don't do something stupid, captain.

The captain and Elbrado seemed to be conversing. They are trash talking, and I can tell that the captain is getting quite pissed about it. 

Elbrado suddenly took a few steps back, and opened his chest. The captain took a stance, and enchanted his body with a lot of magic energy.

What is he… doing?

BARR!!!

The captain leaped forward at high speed and punched Elbrado in the chest. From behind the dust, I can tell Elbrado was thrown back, but not that far. The punch went perfectly, but Elbrado is only fazed a little.

Before long, the dust cleared and Elbrado was standing there with his chest smoking. He tapped his chest and said some stuff I couldn't hear. Looks like he got hurt just a little bit, despite the fact that the captain actually used all of his strength to punch.

Nice work, captain. That punch was a ten out of ten.

But then I can see that Elbrado is also preparing a punch. The captain doesn't look like he is preparing for a fight. Instead, the captain is accepting whatever is coming at him, which is Elbrado's super punch.

Oh, I see what's going on. 

They are trading punches, with the captain going first.

And… now the captain is going to die.

Elbrado enchanted his hand, with all the force of magic energy inside his body. His hand is shining blue very intensely, and the pressure on the air is getting heavier.

Wait, pressure?

This is it. This is my chance. With this heavy pressure in the air, Elbrado's too focused on his target. Everyone else is also going to be hyper focused on Elbrado, so they aren't going to expect anything else. I can just jump in openly and knock him down in one strike.

But if I just knock him away, that will just be boring. Then my eyes landed on the pretty lady standing rather far below the mountain of rocks.

Aaaahhh… sorry, pretty lady.

Elbrado let go of all his energy, and leaped forward. His pressure is completely covering the entire cave, which means I am free to move.

With a full force on my left leg I enchanted faster than a blink, I leaped forward.

Elbrado saw me coming, but he couldn't move because his whole energy was already accumulated in his hand. He couldn't dodge, he couldn't create a protection on his body, and he couldn't avert his eyes from me.

I enchanted my right leg with a ton of magic energy inside me as quickly as I could, and aimed for his head. 

Specifically, his left cheek.

"Huh?-"

BAAKKKK!!!!!!!!

The kick was so powerful, I can see it warped his face and destroyed his face horrifyingly. The force of the kick was able to throw Elbrado really far away, despite him being over hundreds of kilograms in weight.

And as planned, his body flew towards his female friend, Merida, who seemed to be too shocked to move.

BAARRR!!!!

The two collided, and they crashed on the wall really far away on the other side.

I wasted no time on this chance. By the time my other foot landed on the ground, I leaped again, causing the ground to explode. This time, my target is their leader. I couldn't use my foot to kick again, so I will just use my hand.

I wasn't noticing this before, but the blondie is already standing. He lifted both of his hands to receive my punch, as if he knew what I would do.

Oh yeah? Let's see if you can hold this!

I enchanted even more to my hand, and threw the punch.

BARRRR!!!

The punch landed on his arms, which was able to block my attack. But despite me enchanting it with even more power, he was able to block my punch perfectly.

He is... very strong.

"Tch!"

"Well, well, well... You came out of nowhere…"

Prym leaped backwards to create some distance between us. He landed right next to the hole where his friends were, and there's probably a meaning to that.

He whipped his hand in the air, since that punch did hurt his hand a little bit. Once his hand didn't hurt, he took out a weapon from his magic ring. It's a long sword… and he got two of them.

The scabbards were summoned on his back, one facing the right and one facing the left, forming an X. Prym seemed to be still hurting after taking a heavy punch from me, so he was a little bit stunned.

I used this chance and turned my gaze towards the group. Thankfully, everyone is okay and untouched. Even the captain, who seemed to be still on the ground.

I lifted my hand and pointed towards the entrance to the deeper cave. Gajah understood what I meant, and told everyone to evacuate to the deeper cave.

I turned my gaze back to my opponent and looked at the giant hole right next to Prym.

No one seemed to be coming out from the hole, and the pressure coming out from the hole is quite weak.

"Your friends seemed to be... sleeping."

I said to him as a joke, but he took that joke rather seriously. A vein popped on his head as his glare at me turned sharper.

"Yeah! Thank you so much for reminding me!"

He unsheathed both of his long swords rather quickly. Both swords had a yellow skin on the blades, and each had some black strokes that seemed to be a symbol of lightning, and both of them had a length of at least a meter.

Prym enchanted his swords in his magic, yellow lightning. He grinned at me with his demeaning look, but his eyes showed me that he was pissed.

"You just pissed off the most powerful man in Veldonia."

"… Is that so?"

Yellow lightning… It's King tier lightning magic.

He is not lying. I might be in real trouble here.